sal Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Hi everyone, As I've been discovering classic foreign films over the past couple years, I've been purchasing Criterion Collection DVDs without ever having seen the films. Needless to say, I've rarely been disappointed. The next batch I'm eyeing, however, I've heard very little about, and was wondering if any of you could give me some advice on whether I should take the plunge without seeing them first. The films on the radar are: Stray Dog Eyes Without a Face Bande a Part (Band of Outsiders) Slacker Peeping Tom M The Wages of Fear The Vanishing Thanks in advance to anyone who can help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrome Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Peeping Tom was an incredible movie ... way ahead of its time ... are you familiar w/the plot? I can also recommend Black Narcissus by the same director (Michael Powell). www.allmovie.com has a pretty accurate review of the film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal Posted January 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Thanks Chrome. I have read reviews and am somewhat familiar with the plot...it sounds really interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 M is a stone-classic (talking Fritz Lang, yes?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) "M" and "The Wages of Fear" (Le Salaire de la Peur) are both amazing suspense films. "M" was directed by the great Fritz Lang and stars Peter Lorre as a child murderer who is pursued by both the police and the underworld (Lang's use of the Peer Gynt suite as the killer's theme is brilliant and creepy). "The Wages of Fear" is a nail-biter involving (I believe) a prison work team forced to drive a jeep full of nitroglycerine over a bumpy road. It stars Yves Montand. **edit to correct my horrendous French** Edited January 11, 2005 by Alexander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 "M" and "The Wages of Fear" (La Salar de la Peur) are both amazing suspense films. "M" was directed by the great Fritz Lang and stars Peter Lorre as a child murderer who is pursued by both the police and the underworld (Lang's use of the Peer Gynt suite as the killer's theme is brilliant and creepy). "The Wages of Fear" is a nail-biter involving (I believe) a prison work team forced to drive a jeep full of nitroglycerine over a bumpy road. It stars Yves Montant. Oh, now I remember having read about "Wages of Fear", but I missed its screening, a couple of months ago. Quite a rarity, it seems. As for "M", I saw a restored version somewhen last year, and it's a masterpiece, for sure. I suppose Criterion uses this restored version (which is from 2000, 2001, or maybe 2002, and most certainly done by some German institute or "Filmmuseum"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Two of those DVDs are must-see masterpieces: the Fritz Lang 'M' (pure classic and still a frightening experience more than 60 years after it was filmed) and Powell's 'Peeping Tom' (you'll be surprised by that one, also pretty scary). Wages of Fear is Georges-Henry Clouzot's 'Le Salaire de la Peur' with great performances by Yves Montand (an actor I'm not really fond of) and Charles Vanel. I saw a rerun of it not very long ago and found it still very impressive. Same goes for Franju's 'Les Yeux Sans Visage' (Eyes Without a Face), a rare French horror film although some people may be disturbed by a couple of scenes. 'Bande A Part' is an early (1964) Godard film with Anna Karina and Sami Frey. Not Godard's best, but it has its moments. The only other I saw is 'Stray Dog'. I'm not a big fan of Kurosawa! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrome Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 William Friedkin remade Wages of Fear as Sorcerer in the '70s ... not quite a masterpiece but well worth seeing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 'Peeping Tom' was banned for many years in the UK and Powell's career never recovered - tragic. I remember seeing it at about 4am in an all-night student film show. About the only outlet here at the time to see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kh1958 Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 As has been said, the Wages of Fear is quite suspenseful, and Peeping Tom is a highly unusual classic from Michael Powell that was so controversial that it apparently ended his filmmaking career. In his partnership with Pressbinder especially, he is a great director. The Vanishing is quite terrifying. A man and his girlfriend make a brief stop at a rest stop and she disappears. He becomes obsessed with determining her fate. There was a very inferior Hollywood remake in the last few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Wood Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) Kagemusha is slated for release by Criterion in February or March. I've been waiting for this one for a while! Not as good as Ran, but impressive, nevertheless. Edited January 11, 2005 by Stefan Wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 M, The Wages of Fear, and The Vanishing are classics. Don't hesitate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWright Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 "Stray Dog" is an interesting early Kurosawa movie from Japan, from 1949. It stars Kurosawa regular Mifune as a rookie policeman who loses his gun. Especially recommended if you already like other Kurosawa films set in the modern era (in other words, those that are not samurai pictures) such as "Ikiru" or "High and Low." The film could be considered a film noir or a policier but there is also a significant neorealist aspect to it as well since the investigation of the lost gun ends up becoming fairly sociological. I rented the Criterion DVD edition and found it to be a good transfer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) The Wages of Fear is so compelling that I've even stuck around to watch the original or remake on those rare times I've come across it on TV. If you don't bite your fingernails you might start. There's really not a bad movie in the lot. I loved Slacker when it came out, but I know the uh, flow of the story bothers some people. Stray Dog has Toshiro Mifune in it therefore it is well worth seeing. You'll recognize a few other faces from the 7 Samurai as well. It also has a great baseball sequence in it. It seems as if they intentionally released a batch of films that are either suspenseful or somewhat creepy! A great batch! It's going to take effort not to talk like Peter Lorre at some point today. Edited January 11, 2005 by Quincy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal Posted January 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Thanks, everyone, for your feedback. I really appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Burke Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 I got this today. Just came out in the past few days, as did Fighting Elegy, another Seijun Suzuki title. I'm very excited.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ariceffron Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 YOU MEAN STRAW DOGS. ITS WEIRD BUT GOOD IF YOU LIKE LATE 60S ART FILMS I GUESS. DUSTIN HOFFMANS IN IT. A LOT OF RAPE SCENES. AND IT TAKES PLACE WITH ONLY 1 OR 2 SCENES IN THE WHOLE FILM. I GIVE IT A 1 AND A HALF OUT OF 10 HELL-YEAHS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ariceffron Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 I MEANT 1 OR 2 SETTINGS IE. IT TAKES PLACE IN 1 ROOM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Burke Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 (edited) YOU MEAN STRAW DOGS. ITS WEIRD BUT GOOD IF YOU LIKE LATE 60S ART FILMS I GUESS. DUSTIN HOFFMANS IN IT. A LOT OF RAPE SCENES. AND IT TAKES PLACE WITH ONLY 1 OR 2 SCENES IN THE WHOLE FILM. I GIVE IT A 1 AND A HALF OUT OF 10 HELL-YEAHS Straw Dogs is an altogether different film, Aric. Stray Dog, the one originaly mentioned in this thread, is Kurosawa. Straw Dogs is Sam Peckinpah. Easy enough to confuse though. And both were Criterions so..... Edited January 12, 2005 by Brandon Burke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neveronfriday Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 YOU MEAN STRAW DOGS. ITS WEIRD BUT GOOD IF YOU LIKE LATE 60S ART FILMS I GUESS. DUSTIN HOFFMANS IN IT. A LOT OF RAPE SCENES. AND IT TAKES PLACE WITH ONLY 1 OR 2 SCENES IN THE WHOLE FILM. I GIVE IT A 1 AND A HALF OUT OF 10 HELL-YEAHS Straw Dogs is an altogether different film, Aric. Stray Dog, the one originaly mentioned in this thread, is Kurosawa. Straw Dogs is Sam Peckinpah. Easy enough to confuse though. And both were Criterions so..... Just imagine Straw Dogs filmed by Kurosawa. I wonder what colour(s) he would have chosen. A sea of red? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Burke Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 By the way, I watched Youth of the Beast last night and loved it. Really creative cinematography, use of color, etc and, as perhaps expected, there's no shortage of totally bizzare non sequiter moments. (EX: teenage girls dancing in the middle of the street to a jukebox that's....also in the middle of the street?!) It's easily up there with Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 By the way, I watched Youth of the Beast last night and loved it. Really creative cinematography, use of color, etc and, as perhaps expected, there's no shortage of totally bizzare non sequiter moments. (EX: teenage girls dancing in the middle of the street to a jukebox that's....also in the middle of the street?!) It's easily up there with Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill. The Suzuki film are really splendid. The homages by Tarentino to Suzuki are really obvious in Kill Bill. Los Angeles Filmforum did a Suzuki retrospective for a week at the Nuart in Los Angeles 4 or 5 years ago. Tarentino helped pay to have Suzuki come over. They are splendid on the big screen, and it's wonderful that Criterion is getting a few of them out. I just asked Criterion if they were going to do box sets of Godard or Fellini, given that they have the discs now. He replied that they have no plans to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Burke Posted January 12, 2005 Report Share Posted January 12, 2005 I've had a couple different email conversations with Jon Mulvaney about why a Criterion issue of Tom Waits' Big Time would be a good idea. For starters it's never been on DVD ever. As a result, even crappy old VHS copies go for around $50 on ebay. So there's some built in sales numbers right there. Also, they issued two films staring Waits in the past year and a half: Down By Law, Short Cuts. So it seems like there's an audience for it. Oh.... and it's a great film to. B-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted January 13, 2005 Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 One Criterion everyone should have: THE THIRD MAN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal Posted January 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 One Criterion everyone should have: THE THIRD MAN Yeah, that's a great flick. I need to get that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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